Higher One Announces 21 Recipients of its Annual Financial Literacy Counts Grant

NEW HAVEN, Conn.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--

Higher One, a leader in providing financial services and data analytics to more than 1,900 college and university campuses across the U.S., is pleased to announce 21 recipients of its Financial Literacy Counts grant program. A total of $75,000 will be distributed to winning colleges and universities in the program's fourth year, which saw a record number of more than 125 applications representing 34 states and an array of four-year and two-year public and private institutions.

Higher One launched the Financial Literacy Counts grant program to provide institutions with funding for critical financial literacy awareness campaigns, workshops, online financial literacy tools and other activities and resources that promote financial capability among college students and provide opportunities to increase students' personal financial management skills and abilities. This year marked the launch of a new track, Higher One Money Mentors, for those programs specifically focused on peer mentoring models and programs—seven of the recipients in 2014 were in this track.

“Higher One's Financial Literacy Counts grant will be instrumental in providing University of Illinois students on all three of our campuses - Urbana–Champaign, Chicago and Springfield – a structured and innovative approach to financial capability,” says Andrea Pellegrini, Assistant Director of the Student Money Management Center. “This grant is supporting the launch of our Financial Literacy Badges Program, which structures various financial literacy programming on all of the campuses within the five core competencies defined by the U.S. Department of Treasury as Borrowing, Earning, Protect, Saving and Spending. Students can earn a digital badge for each core competency by participating in at least three educational activities associated with each core competency. These digital badges can then be displayed online.”

The 21 colleges and universities selected to receive Financial Literacy Counts grants include:

• Alverno College
• Eastern Washington University
• Forest Valley State University
• Halifax Community College
• Iowa Western Community College
• Lanier Technical College
• Lee University
• Long Island University, Brooklyn
• Mercy College of Health Sciences
• Middle Georgia State College
• Missouri Valley College
• Moreno Valley College
• Niagara County Community College
• Northern Michigan University
• Texas Wesleyan University
• University of Illinois
• University of Maine at Farmington
• University of Minnesota
• University of South Carolina, Beaufort
• University of Wisconsin, Oshkosh
• Webster University

The winning proposals were selected based on their high levels of student involvement in planning and execution, quality and creativity of the grant's approach, and impact on the greatest percentage of students on campus. This year's winning programs include an array of activities, including a financial literacy mentoring program for low-income, single-mother students at Niagara County Community College in New York; the “Financially Fit Bootcamp” program at Moreno Valley College in California, featuring a financial literacy week with campus-wide programming; and the “Ram $Mart for Life” series of activities at Texas Wesleyan University, which will also be made available to employees and local area high school students.

"At Texas Wesleyan, we value the importance of financial literacy, and we strive to provide our students opportunities to learn necessary financial skills," says Dr. Deborah Roark, Associate Vice President of Sponsored Programs & External Relations for the University. "We are thrilled to receive this grant from Higher One to expand the great work we're doing with our students and the community."

“Higher One is committed to developing real-world and student-focused money management programs and activities—and the Financial Literacy Counts grant program helps institutions create and implement much needed curricula and programs,” said Mary Johnson, Director of Financial Literacy and Student Aid Policy at Higher One. “As research continues to show that institutional and peer-based programs can have positive impacts, Higher One strives to ensure their success.”

Money Matters on Campus, a recently released research study sponsored by Higher One, surveyed 65,000 first-year college students on financial attitudes and behaviors and found that campus-based financial literacy education programs should use innovative approaches to address attitudinal, behavioral and demographic differences among students early on in their academic careers.

About Higher One

Higher One ONE partners with colleges and universities to lower their administrative costs and to improve graduation rates. We provide a broad array of payment, refund disbursement and data analytics and management tools to institutions that help them save money and enhance institutional effectiveness. And for students, we offer financial literacy programs and convenient, flexible and affordable transaction options to help them manage their finances. Higher One is a leader in higher education and we support more than 1,900 schools and over 13 million enrolled students. More information about Higher One can be found at www.higherone.com.